Around 70% of respondents belong to the Semi-urgent and Non-urgent categories

The survey, conducted from August to December 2016, was carried out by the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong commissioned by the HA. The Accident and Emergency Experience Questionnaire (AEEQ) was developed by adopting the A&E Department Questionnaire of the NHS patient survey programme in the UK as framework.

Around 9,300 patients who had attended HA A&E Departments were selected on a random basis for phone interviews. The overall response rate was 69%.

33% were of the triaged categories of Critical, Emergency and Urgent patients, while the remaining 67% belonged to the Semi-urgent and Non-urgent categories.

Areas that require improvement: Giving information on medication side effects and danger signals to watch for

HA described the survey as reflecting high confidence among patients in A&E doctors and nurses, and patients also felt that they were respected and treated with dignity.

According to the survey results, the average score of the overall experience across the 17 A&E Departments was 7.7 (along a scoring scale of 0 to 10) with 83% of the respondents giving a rating of 7 or above. The respondents were satisfied with the A&E environment and facilities, including cleanliness and air ventilation, and waiting time for triage assessment and tests.

The respondents also expressed that healthcare staff could explain how to take medications and the effects of drugs in a way they could understand.

However, the survey reflected that there were areas with relatively low scores which require improvement, such as waiting time for consultation, availability of surgical masks and hand-wash liquid, and giving information on medication side effects and danger signals to watch for. Respondents also wished to be comforted by healthcare staff if they had worry or fear.
Tang expressed in the press conference his sincere gratitude to those who had participated in the survey. He said that the views collected from the survey were instrumental in helping the HA to further improve A&E service quality.

Additionally, Tang stressed that the HA will seriously follow up on the areas for improvement as revealed in the survey, and will work closely with front-line staff to ensure continuous improvement of A&E service. MIMS